press

praise on Insalata Statica:

The Wire (Lottie Brazier)

Borrowing from Loic Sturani’s 2003 film Vegetable Thriller the video teaser that accompanies Italian pianist and composer Giovanni Di Domenico’s new album displays a strange vision of brightly coloured vegetable matter that dissolves rapidly in and out of focus. Presented in this visually disorientating way, familiar textures are dissected and and skewed to the point where they are unrecognisable. Its musical counterpart Insalata Statica instead makes familiar chord progressions sound unfamiliar, yet strangely comforting. Although not divided by individual tracks, Insalata Statica (translating from the Italian as Static Salad) can be thought of as being comprised of sections not dissimilar to those found on Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells or Hergest Ridge.

There isn’t much space on this lengthy recording – much of it is filled with layer upon layer of texture – but it never becomes a claustrophobic listen. The reverberating piano is played decisively and serves as a lead instrument. Gradually introducing more instrumentation to each section, Domenico sounds as if he is accompanied by a full band, though most of the recordings are his own. Simple melodies shift as contrasting but related scenes in a film, switching mood constantly but with ease. Insalata Statica’s introduction includes a rare moment of sampling – the chattering of birds – though overall the sources of these high pitched sounds are not distinguishable. At one point there is something like a pumping heart as heard through a stethoscope, but here the pitch of each contraction is much higher than it would naturally sound.

Insalata Statica homages influences such as Philip Glass’s piano études and Steve Reich’s phasing, but it does so with considerable charm and lack of contrivance; the structures that Di Domenico creates sound loose, as if they have been jammed out rather than considered, with a sensitivity and warmth to the manner in which they unfold.

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Touching Extremes (Massimo Ricci)

Once again, let me start a review from the analysis of the press release. A couple of striking notes emerge. One is a relative comparison of Insalata Statica with Jim O’Rourke’s The Visitor; indeed, scents of JO’R’s sonority are present which might be acceptable, especially in view of the recent cooperations between him and Giovanni Di Domenico.

The second is a reference to Franco Battiato’s oeuvre of the 70s, an out-and-out offense in spite of Di Domenico’s admitted liking of those overrated pastiches. The difference – at least for a detached observer trying to age with a degree of dignity – is that multi-instrumentalist Di Domenico can compose, orchestrate and play for real. Battiato’s so-called experimental era was the result of a smartly concealed fraud.

This album – constructed upon a 40-minute suite – is a small treat. Its compositional distillation – not devoid of barely perceivable details that may only be acknowledged by experts in combined resonances – translated into charming music of palpable profundity. In several circumstances its harmonic wealth gets pushed towards other climates, occasionally bordering on mild disorder. Nevertheless, an underlying feeling of suaveness persists in those moments, too.

Assembled over the course of five years after singularly recording its sections, the composition appears to this reviewer as a sincere homage to the truly progressive opuses of the aforementioned decade more than anything else.

This does not imply any attempt of shameless imitation. Di Domenico did throw a little of everything in there while managing to restrain himself quite a bit. To exemplify the concept: certain interlocking patterns could recall Steve Reich for a fleeting instant, but there’s no time to even pronounce that similarity as the scene changes to an altogether diverse mood, perhaps characterized by fuzzy electric guitars and gentle drumming in Canterbury-esque sauce.

The fluid alternance of freshness and strong coloring, of vivid pulse and serenity, was probably the decisive intuition for the successful realization of this piece.

I am not swearing to the gods when affirming that a “conceptual kinship” coming to mind was that with the best Mike Oldfield. Before you laugh, remember: Hergest Ridge is a hell of an undersung record (moreover, one can’t cover the role of sound engineer for Henry Cow by being a slouch).

Still, this is entirely Di Domenico’s soul. It smiles and nods to us, inviting to come in without apprehension. The efforts in the studio have definitely been repaid: I have savored the “static salad” four times already. A self-promise for the future is to return to it when possible.

Rippling brass, woodwind and guitar open Sir Robert Williams by Oba Loba, a collaboration by the Lobo brothers in Brussels, recorded in 2015 with others including Giovanni Di Domenico and Jordi Grognard. The chanson-like instrumental “Legionella” that embraces a soaring romantic melody is the first of eight graceful, sonorous tracks. Descending into the reed and vocal drone of “Macarrones”, paradiddles and high-pitched piano fuel electric guitar and clarinet as they call and answer. “O Funambulo Sonambulo” sets an electric guitar driving across a swaying processional melody, “Honiara” is a jaunty brass and flute-led slice of sunshine pop and the juddering violin and quietly dissonant noise leading into “Chuva” cast a glittering shimmer as the arrangement then dissolves in waves to a low clarinet note and throbbing echoes, found conversation and guitar twangs and violin scratches against a wistful piano melody.

Dusted’s own Bill Meyer was onto something when he observed that the Portuguese brothers Norberto and João Lobo should head “the ‘they ought to be scoring movies’ club.” With Sir Robert Williams, the brothers — along with their stable of collaborators, most of them repeats from the 2015 Shhpuma debut and now collectively known as Oba Loba — offer another marvelously varied but compact cinematic sound experience. Despite its relatively short 38-minute runtime, the album proceeds patiently, opening with the stately folk of “Legionella” and moving into the broodier, euphonium-droning “Macarrones.” One effect of the band’s sure-footed advance from one brilliantly executed genre to another — we haven’t even hit group improvisation or psychedelic pop — is suspense: Where are they going? How is this adding up? While those questions are easier to ask than to answer, the segued track changes across the album suggest an overarching continuity, a grand vision. Likewise, though each piece regroups and repurposes the supporting musicians in new settings, a few through lines help to tie things together. One recurring character is Giovanni Di Domenico, whose keyboard ostinati provide a backbone for more than one piece. Another, perhaps the protagonist, is Norberto Lobo himself, who sometimes floats his guitar over the ensemble in the style of Robert Fripp and other times sharpens it to cut through, like Marc Ribot or Raphael Rogiński. And even if, as a sequel, Sir Robert Williams may not depart quite enough from its predecessor, a third installment would be more than welcome.

If there’s two musicians that surely complement each other its possibly Jim O’Rourke and Giovanni Di Domenico, both are prolific artists, producing a stream of superb albums in the past few years, and both seem to sidestep current fashions, yet stay musically listenable. So this year starts (or was it last year finished) with Giovanni Di Domenico, Jim O’Rourke and Tatsuhisa Yamamoto’s “Delivery Health”, part of a couple of records that O’Rourke and Di Domenico have collaborated on recently. The group dishes up an excellent slice of improvised music that includes jazz, rock and noise. For those new to these musicians Giovanni Di Domenico plays piano and keyboard, Jim O’Rourke a guitarist (among other things) and Tatsuhisa Yamamoto plays drums. Di Domenico and Jim O’Rourke manipulate (at times) their specific instruments, using electronics or other devices to change their sound. On the other hand Yamamoto stays more (or less) with the acoustic set-up of his drums, which in my opinion helps give the music a truly three dimensional aspect.

The record consists of three pieces, “Transgression is Only Fleeting”, “Passe Muraille” and “Superfield”. They are placed (although maybe not recorded) in such a way that the record develops sonically from a very calm atmosphere to intense noise and feedback before coming back together with a sort of melodic finale. Giovanni Di Domenico and Jim O’Rourke look after the harmonic areas in a very skilled and sparing fashion. Never is there a moment when you feel they’ve over-played or just plain ‘gone on too long’. As with several of Giovanni’s other recordings (such as GOING), the music often has a minimalist direction. This enables the musicians to easily develop subtle ideas both melodically and/or rhythmically, whilst giving plenty space to experiment with their sound. In this case its interesting to hear how much of the development comes from Tatsuhisa Yamamoto and his intelligent use of the drums. Yamamoto, whose playing sits somewhere between the styles of Paul Motian and Edward Vesala, opens up the music like a breath of fresh air. His subtle playing carries you along, integrating the electronic sounds into his rhythms to make subtle and flowing music.

As for finding some comparison or ‘handle’ which gives an idea of the groups sound one only needs to refer to their press release. The group, or record company, gives a nod towards the 70s ECM jazz rock period, presenting the record as a “[…] blend of early 70’s ECM drum sound, [mixed with] long unfolding travelogues […]”, and indeed the group’s sound has elements of that crossover feel which was prevalent in the 70s period, when jazz and rock were closely linked. Its a period that was very productive musically and sonically, music from that period seemed to be less about virtuosity and more about musical values such as improvisation, experimentation, sounds and music. To hear those areas being re-examined is, I would suggest, good news for all.

For all those interested don’t hesitate to head over to Silent Water Records to snap up a copy of this limited edition LP. I’m not sure if there’s digital copies available, but I’m sure any questions will be happily answered by the record company.

This is one of those very special records, although this may be a 4.5 star review, there’s no doubt it’s a a five star listen. This is a record that crosses many boundaries and certainly guaranteed to make you not only sit up and listen but also rock around the room (if played loud enough). GOING a Belgian based group, has a skeletal line up which packs a big punch, 2 drummers, Joao Lobo and Mathieu Calleja, and 2 keyboards/synths/objects (and plenty of effects) are Giovanni Di Domenico and Pak Yan Lau. The sound that they come up with could be loosely post-rock, but also closely allied to improvised music (sound wise). To top that off they have a description on their website describing themselves as a “psychedelic groove band”.

The album consists of two beautifully organised pieces. The first side/track Red Machinerydevelops slowly from sparse drums and keyboard sounds into repetitive figures and a complex interlocking groove. The combinations of rhythmic patterns are at the heart of this composition, the melodic seed is simple but varies slightly to blend into (and with) the various patterns. You could ‘think’ of Chicago group ‘Tortoise’ for a reference, Going tap into the same area, overlapping rhythms and rock beats, mixing some great experimental sounds and repetitive riffs, its a delightful combination and very addictive!

The second piece Blue Machinery, has a slightly harder edge. Its brooding atmosphere and constant recurring single note pattern give this a urgent edgy quality. One feels the piece may brake, at any moment, into a up-tempo groove, but the group hold the music back in a way to produce tension. Minimal solo lines give the track just the right balance between a groove and melody, allowing the music to evolve naturally.

The clever combination of two keyboards/effects and two drummers really gives the music plenty of space, and the lack of a bass to drive the group is actually what gives it the group its pure sound. There are plenty of details to hear within the recording due to this combination and the different paths taken by each instrumentalist. There are no real soloists, just co-operative group made music.

This is a vinyl release, with one track per side, although it’s possible to buy a digital version. I received the music on sound-files and I have to say that it seemed (in my humble opinion) a great medium to host this excellent music, as I found myself listening to the two tracks as one long evolving piece.

This is certainly a highly recommended release, and easily accessible to many people interested in either jazz, rock, electronica and the minimalism of post Steve Reich’s world. Anyone interested should quickly head over to their website as this is a limited edition of 300 odd copies.

Fornalha, the superb recent solo record by Portuguese guitarist Norberto Lobo, came off like an aesthetic union of American Primitive guitar and the mod-psychedelic mash-up of bow-wielding Creation guitarist Eddie Phillips. Oba Loba, his second duo recording with his drummer/brother João, may submerge his acoustic picking within a densely arranged ensemble sound, but it confirms that the Lobo siblings possess catholic tastes. To call it a duo recording is actually a bit inaccurate. Not only does each Lobo play several instruments, but they have marshaled a group of players whose horns, strings, keyboards, and wordless vocals permit them to open up their stylistic map much wider than they could have on their own. The North Star guiding them on this trip is combination of robust but lyrical jazz and omnivorous pop that Robert Wyatt realized on his post-fall LPs in the mid-’70s and later revisited onShleep. To that they’ve added hints of TV soundtracks, ‘90s Chicago rock, and minimalism that suggest they’ve spent some time digesting Jim O’Rourke’s pre-exile recordings. The result is a varied and consistently engaging sequence of mood-evoking instrumentals that at least temporarily pushes the brothers to the head of the “they ought to be scoring movies” club.

Anyone who reads regularly this review blog knows to expect virtually anything and everything that relates to guitar and bass playing, primarily in terms of music that may or may not be virtuoso showcases for artists, but is primarily determined by musical worth and interest.

Today’s album is no exception. It is a Portuguese compositional ensemble headed by acoustic and electric guitarist (and multi-instrumentalist) Norberto Lobo and his brother (?) Joao Lobo on drums (and harp). The album is entitled Oba Loba (shhpuma 014CD).

It is music that does not fit neatly into categories. It has postmodern new music sonarity, jazz-rock, avant jazz, ambient and melodic dynamics, all mixed together in original ways. Norberto and Joao share the writing duties with one composed by Giovanni Di Domenico, who is the primary keyboard player in the ensemble. They are joined by Ananta Roosens on violin and trumpet, Jordi Grognard on clarinet and bass clarinet, and Lynn Cassiers on vocals and electronics. All join in on group vocals from time to time. There are several additional guests who appear here and there. So that takes care of the who.

The what does not go easily into a verbal description. This is original music both cutting-edge and lyrical. I won’t say they sound like Oregon because they don’t. But like early Oregon they create a diversely rooted music that is both tuneful and avant, sometimes alternatingly, sometimes both intermingled. Norberto plays some interesting guitar but everyone contributes and really it is especially all about a group compositional objective. That makes them unique because the group sound does not follow predictable lines though the hearing of it all can be easily appreciated once one gets used to what to expect.

This is a trip in uncharted waters and there are discoveries ahead. Set sail with some provisions and you should find the journey a pleasure and a surprise. Get your ears on this and you will come away with a feeling that you have been to a different place. What better?

If there was ever a Zen record then maybe this is it? Kalimi is made up of Giovanni di Domenico (Fender Rhodes and electronics) and Mathieu Calleja (Drums), back with this excellent release of minimalist sound duos. Although the record is dated 2014 its taken awhile for the label, Silent Water Label, to put the record out. However, its a welcome addition to their excellent catalogue of contemporary jazz/improvised music releases which include GOING, reviewed earlier in 2015.

The sound and approach of Kalimi could be described as minimalist (although not in Steve Reich/Philip Glass terms). Built around the use of melody and punctuated noise (one could call it), is at moments truly hypnotic. The music is strongly based around developing the keyboard’s ability to feedback and hold lingering sounds, along with drum beats which not only frame the music, but give the duo a direction. What makes the drum’s approach so interesting is that Mathieu Calleja plays them in a relatively ‘straight-ahead’ manner, and not as abstract splashes of sound. This helps the music to build-up in an organic way and is in part what makes the music easily listenable, although clearly experimental.

Before saying a little about the music it seems (to me) that the record works well when heard as a sort of suit, and not as individual tracks. As record opens we are introduced to the delicate sound world of this duo. With tracks such as “forever high” (tk1) and “otona no kagaku”(tk6) the music hangs in the air ready to move in any direction. However, other pieces offer a more raunchy solution such as the brief “7.1” (tk2), or the fascinating “selfie my ass”(tk3), which much like a card player gradually revealing their hand, leads us into a dark musical territory. But nothing compares with the two heaviest pieces, the violent “b’hier” (tk4), and “9.2” (tk7), which jump straight in to surprise you with high energy sonic attacks, “9.2” is also the last track on the album which closes this excellent record.

Highly recommended to all who enjoy a mixture of jazz, noise and rock – a possible reference point (or ‘tag’) could be Supersilent?

Another Di Domenico project, again with Lobo in two, along with Daniele Martini (saxophone, percussion) and Bruno Ferro Xavier da Silva (electric bass, electronics, percussion). Miles circa “Bitches Brew” once again hovers over the proceedings on the first of two tracks, with the warped Rhodes and the snare beats; generally, it’s in the same area as the Going recording. Side 2 ventures into entirely different territory, percussion and electronics to the four, constructing odd and intricate rhythmic patterns offset against squalls of harsh noise. It eventually settles into a sizzling kind of industrial area, conjuring images of arc wielding. Somehow, I’m recalling FM Einheit. Interesting track, though, coursing through some unusual areas. Those interested in variations of this order of jazz funk will enjoy.

Wow. My first meeting with Mulabanda, an Italian quartet consisting of Giovanni Di Domenico (keys, elec.), Daniele Martini (sax), Bruno Ferro Xavier da Silva (bass, elec.), and João Lobo (perc.). An LP consisting of two side-long untitled improvisations. Side A is reminiscent of Elephant9 and Supersilent – Di Domenico’s work is striking, he seems to be everywhere at once, his keyboard sounds perpetually mutating. The second track is noisier and stretches out a bit too long, but it is still an impressive piece of work. Very convicing as a whole.

A double duo of two keyboards (Giovanni Di Domenico and Pak Yan Lau) and two percussionists (Joao Lobo and Matthieu Calleja). While I know I’m not the onl one out there with an abiding and unreasonable love of the sound of a distorted Fender Rhodes, I’m probably in smaller company with my long-term affection from that early ECM release from Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette, “Ruta & Daitya” (the former’s last venture into electronics?). Going doubles down on the instrumentation while summoning up a similar post-Milesian spirit, with related rhythms and keyboard scurrying. It lacks the over-the-top funkiness of the earlier work (sometimes the beats are a bit leaden, as in “Fara”). An unfair standard to hold this quartet to in any case and on its own the music flows pretty well. Maybe, in a more contemporary vein, think of it as a variant on Radian or Trapist–enjoyable, lightly beat-driven music with imaginative, keyboard-oriented washes and distortion atop. A fun trip.

Last week I reviewed a very good record by Mulabanda, a band who reminded me of Elephant9 and Supersilent. I maintain the comparison with Supersilent in the case of Going, another quartet with two members also playing in Mulabanda. The line-up this tim is keyboardists/electronicians Giovanni Di Domenico and Pak Yan Lau, with drummers João Lobo and Mathieu Calleja. A blend of composition and free improvisation resting on a bed of polyrythms, with variously-effected keys that can sound both melodious and textural. “Skal” goes on for too long, but “Nagpapatuloy” and “Mynd” are strong tracks and, in any case, this debut LP has a lot to offer.